General Qualifications Bulletin - UK - Issue 10
I hope you are keeping safe and that this last half term has been a successful one in your centre. I hope that you are looking forward to a well-earned break.
Over the past two weeks our Centre Quality Assurers have been working through your centre policies, it was fantastic to see that so many were received ahead of the deadline. You may have already heard from us if we needed a little more information from you, if you haven’t, don’t worry, you will shortly receive a notification to confirm that your centre policy has been checked and nothing further is required.
I know that many of you are used to receiving these general qualifications bulletins fortnightly on a Wednesday and that they provide a useful channel for sharing key information. I am expecting that in the next week there will be some further information to share with you regarding the digital submission system that we will be using to support the stage 3 quality assurance subject level checks and appeals. I would like to share this information with you as soon as possible, which could mean sending it during the half term break. Whilst this is not something I would normally do, I want to ensure that you have it in your centres for when you return after half term, but it does not mean that it needs to be read during this time.
There is important information contained in this edition that relates to the grade submission portal, upcoming deadlines, important information about some individual subjects and some recent releases from Ofqual.
Don’t forget to give us your feedback via our feedback form - it really makes a difference to our thinking, so please feel free to let us know your thoughts.
To ensure you have the latest information, please continue to visit our dedicated summer 2021 support page, and follow us on Twitter (@PearsonEdexcel) to keep up to date. If you would like to speak to us directly, you can get in touch with any questions via our contact form, or by calling the relevant team for your role.
My thanks again to you and your colleagues for the amazing work you are doing every day.
Hayley White
Assessment Director
Over the past two weeks our Centre Quality Assurers have been working through the 7,000 centre policies that you have submitted to us. You may have heard from us already if further information is required and everyone will shortly receive a notification from us to confirm that your centre policies have been checked. In the meantime, please continue to collect and collate the evidence you are using to determine grades for learners this year.
The teacher assessed grades portal is now available to use.
Templates are now available for you to download and add your teacher assessed grades. With that in mind, we have rounded up some resources that we hope you will find useful.
- Submitting teacher assessed grades to Pearson in summer 2021
A video guide to entering teacher assessed grades for summer 2021 via the portal for relevant GCSE, AS/A level, International GCSE, International AS/A level, all other General, International and BTEC Qualifications. - Teacher assessed grades (TAG/Q-TAG): Portal User Guide
A Knowledge Base Article, for all centre staff that will be using Pearson’s Teacher Assessment Grades (TAG) submission portal in 2021. - Teacher assessed grades (TAG/Q-TAG): User Guide (PDF, 1.8 MB).
A downloadable PDF guide to TAGs/Q-TAGs and the Portal.
More information and support can be found on our dedicated pages:
We recommend that you log in at your earliest convenience and check that your login and user profiles are correct for those staff that require access. Please also check that the candidate details and entries are correct and if there are any omissions or changes needed then please action them yourself via Edexcel Online or EDI. Should you discover any required changes after 18 June, please contact us as soon as possible via email to eprocessing@pearson.com.
The timeline for UK qualifications is updated regularly on our summer 2021 support page. This week sees a major milestone, the submission of teacher assessment grades can be made from 26 May. You can view the latest timeline in our 2021 key dates and deadlines document (PDF, 0.1 MB).
Ofqual is consulting on arrangements for non-examined assessment (NEA) and fieldwork requirements for some GCSE, AS and A level qualifications in 2022.
The consultation focuses on the subjects for which preparation and work for non-exam assessment and fieldwork activities will be taking place this term for students who will be taking their exams in 2022. It covers:
- non-exam assessments in dance, design and technology, drama (and theatre), film studies, food preparation and nutrition, media studies, music, music technology, and physical education
- fieldwork activities in geography, geology and environmental science
- assessment of speaking skills in GCSE modern foreign language (MFL) qualifications
- assessment of spoken language in GCSE English language.
Ofqual are seeking views on their proposal to largely carry forward to the next academic year the flexibilities and adaptations that were put in place in these subjects for 2021.
> View more information and the link to submit your views on the Ofqual website
Ofqual have confirmed that exam boards will review all grades as part of their quality assurance processes. The grades will also be an important factor that exam boards use to target their review of centre judgements.
Once the grades are received, every centre will be asked to provide samples of student work. Exam boards will request at least the following evidence:
- one A level subject (at least five students)
- two GCSE subjects, one of which is likely to be either English language or maths (at least five students for each).
Centres that offer only A levels or only GCSEs will be asked to submit only work for those qualifications.
All centres will be asked to provide the evidence used to determine the grades for the students selected. Exam boards will decide on the subjects and the students (selected from across the grade range, and potentially including private candidates where centres have accepted them) and they will let centres know which subjects/students have been selected, in the week beginning 21 June.
JCQ have released an addendum about the stage 3 checks which can be found in this document (PDF, 0.1 MB). We want to make sure the process is as efficient as possible and we will be asking that evidence is provided in a digital format.
In previous bulletins we have outlined that the joint Ofqual and DfE consultation confirms that for GCSE English Language, GCSE modern foreign languages and
A level sciences (biology, chemistry, physics), centres should determine and submit a separate grade or result for the endorsement. This result or grade should be based on work that has been completed towards the endorsement.
Centres should retain the signed centre declaration, should it be required for any subsequent quality assurance or appeals process, and to use our new online functionality to confirm this has been done when submitting grades. In Edexcel Online (EOL) you will notice a tick box when submitting grades, this will need to be completed before grades can be fully submitted.
The deadline for submitting the endorsement grade or result will be extended until 18 June 2021 in line with the submission deadline for teacher assessed grades.
Due to the ongoing Ofqual Open consultation: Arrangements for non-exam assessment and fieldwork requirements for students entering qualifications in 2022, the task and logbook for Component 1- Recording will not be made available to centres on the 1 June 2021 for candidates who intend to sit their assessment in June 2022.
Following the outcome of the consultation we will endeavour to release further information as soon as possible in relation to the assessment of Component 1: Recording. We will ensure that candidates are not disadvantaged by the delay in releasing the assessment materials for Component 1.
Our Professional Development Academy has detailed guidance and support in the form of checklists, video presentations, infographics and step- by-step guides to support you in determining fair grades for your students so they can progress on to their next stage.
If you were unable to attend a subject-specific live online event recordings are now available to view on the Professional Development Academy. Please do pass this link on to all your colleagues.
In addition to this, subject support guides, like the example in the screenshot below, can now be found on the individual qualification pages. Please make sure that all teachers have seen these guides. Full details and links to each qualification can be found on our summer 2021 support page under the ‘Summer 2021 Grading Support’ section.
Following the end of the unseen assessment window, all mark schemes and other relevant assessment related materials are now available. These can now be found on the subject pages. Please click on the relevant subject and these materials can be found under the ‘June 2021’ materials.
The updated guidance on awarding results in 2021 can be found on our Assessment Hub page. You will find videos of briefings and Q&A sessions with additional detail, alongside the guidance.
If you’d like to find out the latest information and support for our vocational qualifications, please take a look at our FE support page where you can find news and updates, with links to our regular VQ Bulletin which contains all the key updates you need for our vocational qualifications.